Celestia's Academy for Protectors

Wild Card watched as some of the students stood up to tear apart the constructs, mostly in awe as none of them so far seemed to do so in a regular manner. The closest was the mare who just sliced the construct in two with a single slash, but the potential normality was ruined by the fact she just materialised the weapon out of nowhere. Then there was the mare who turned into... well he had no clue what she turned into. Obviously it was a beast of some sort as it kind of looked like a timberwolf with fur instead of bark, but it was the size of a pony and had the capability to decapitate a Grimm - even if it was just a representation - with a single bite... Wild was quite scared at the concept of it and quite glad nothing like it existed normally to his knowledge.

The howl that came from the beast at the end didn't exactly help with that, and afterwards Wild shakily stood up and raised a hand. "Uh... sir... not to sound like I don't want to do this but, well, we've all just come from dinner." The stallion said, gesturing to the other students as he said this, "So many of us probably don't have our weapons on us right now. I know I don't, and given this was an emergency lecture I doubt many of us went to pick up our weapons before coming here." He said, sounding somewhat apologetic but remaining respectful throughout.

"Who brings a weapon to dinner?" Sunset muttered, watching at least half the students in the hall pull something out of somewhere to beat the pillow-wolves. Fantasy just shrugged.

"Any idea what to do?" Fantasy asked her. "We can't exactly demonstrate close-range without a weapon."

"Well, maybe you can't." Sunset stood up and walked up to a Pillow Wolf, where she proceeded to blast it with a fireball and obliterate the entire front half of the thing. She walked away from a mess of ashes, cinders, and a dummy butt.

"...flashy." Fantasy commented, her tone making it unclear if it were a compliment or a criticism of her showboating.

"What about you?" Sunset asked as she sat down.

"I don't have a weapon." Fantasy repeated.

---

Above everypony, the sirens observed carefully. Well, Adagio observed. Aria had her attention divided between watching the students and making sure Sonata didn't do anything stupid. None of them were going to be participating: they didn't have weapons, and besides that it wouldn't do good for their more innocent and helpless image if Sonata tore off the head of a dummy with her own teeth.

---

After a few minutes of demonstrations, Nox worked up the nerve to walk up to the front of the hall, feeling everypony's eyes on her back. Approaching a Pillow Wolf, she pulled an average sword seemingly straight out of the front of her robe.

The Wolf charged, and Nox may've overreacted and used more force than was necessary, turning her sword into a lavender-tinged blur which sliced through the Pillow Wolf as if it weren't even there and... loudly getting her sword stuck in the floor and sending marble and metal shards everywhere.

Docile Storm stood by observing them all as they stepped up one by one, taking notes on their methods and occasionally giving a nod or a noise of approval as they dismantled their dummies; his eyes lit up slightly when Anja's transformation occurred in front of him but aside from that and a bit more of a hurry to his note scribbling than with the other students he gave no sign of approval, or even much surprise considering a pony just turned into a direwolf in front of him.

Docile Storm calmly sidestepped to his desk, pausing to avoid the very battered remains of a Beowolf dummy as he went; Razor Back had taken a bit longer than most to finish, and seemed to simply be enjoying venting some serious aggression on the Beowolf judging by how she suplexed, threw and punched it to no end until it's head simply popped off in the end.

Docile Storm paused to stroke the wolf cub that had taken up residence on his desk before opening a draw and offering it a sandwich from his lunch. Once he had placed it down before the cub he stepped forward again, a spring in his step now.


"Right... well, if you are quite finished." Docile added to Razor after giving her a few minutes. Razor stopped, hesitated and delivered one final stomp to the Beowolf before she returned to her seat as though nothing had happened, though she seemed to be gritting her teeth a little even as she sat down.


"Those of you who didn't bring your weapons, get into the habit; one thing you will learn very quickly is that the Grimm do not have the common courtesy to schedule activities around us, you could be called from breakfast, bed, the bathroom or from any class to see action." Docile advised them, flicking the projector so it showed a large crowd of Grimm. "Always be prepared, and always be armed." He advised them, flicking his arm and sliding a long barreled, pitch black revolver from out of his sleeve which seemed too large to fit up there. "Even if you only carry a side arm or a backup weapon, it may save your lives one day."


"Now then, you all at least know about Grimm. Tell me, do any of you know the origin, of the Grimm?" His voice had dropped into that almost reverent tone again. "Trick question of course; even to Princess Celestia, such knowledge is elusive as the very smoke the Grimm become upon death. Would anyone care to hazard a guess? Are they natural? Are they a creation? Can they ever be fully eradicated? Should they be eradicated?"

He swept the room, striding up and down in front of the desks for anyone's answers. He seemed to have a great passion for the topic, seemed to love hearing their opinions.

"'Course they should be destroyed." Razor grumbled, but quietly enough so that only her team could hear them. She didn't seem to be fully paying attention; her eyes, and one of her ears, were on the trio of sirens.

Fantasy remained silent with nothing to contribute to the topic. Sunset rolled her eyes, clearly very uninterested in wasting time on wild guesses and baseless theories.

The rest of the students didn't share that sentiment, or Fantasy's hesitancy.

"They're living shadows!"

"They're shadow creatures."

"They're death spirits?"

"I think they're just magical creatures."

"I think they were created by a sorcerer that hates ponies. Why else would the Grimm target just ponies?"

"Don't they attack horses and donkeys, too?"

"I think they were created by Princess Luna."

"Princess Luna's a myth!"

"No she's not! She just got banished to Tartarus! The Grimm were her army against Celestia!"

"Oh put down your pendant!"

"The Grimm are just animals!"

"They're shadow beasts."

"I won't argue that."

"These ponies are idiots." Adagio muttered to her sisters.

Nox looked around and cleared her throat. "Excuse me." Nopony paid her quiet voice any attention. "Excuse me." she tried again, her voice closer to the ideal volume for such a large room. However, it was still not enough to politely catch anypony's attention.

Nox sighed. She took a slow, deep breath, and exhaled, and she did this until the cold knot in her stomach stopped trying to climb up her throat and color her face. Then she stood up, stuck her fingers in her mouth, and produced a loud whistle that soared over everypony's voices and echoed after everypony had fallen silent. Now their attention was on her.

Now she wanted to run away.

She showed no fear. "Have none of you seen a Grimm before? Or read about them? These guesses are so far off that it'd be comical if it weren't worrying. Grimm aren't shadow beasts: they're not made of shadow, you can collect their remains in a jar. I wouldn't call them creatures, either, because all creatures that I know of have souls... and organs... usually both, but sometimes one or the other."

"If they're not shadow beasts, why is every Grimm species black as night?" Shining Light interrupted.

"I don't know, but I've tried removing all shadow from their forms: that just turned them white." Nox responded. "Personally, I share the belief the unicorn summarized earlier: that the Grimm are golems, enchanted to hunt ponies into extinction. They're made like golems, they're singularly focused like golems, they're fragile like golems (that is, unenforced ones), and I have never seen a natural creature that resembles the Grimm in nature."

"But then... how do they grow?" Fantasy asked.

Nox blinked, then shrugged.

Anja cocked her ear in acceptance of Viridian's praise, wagging gently. She barked, before turning to face Docile and cocking her in an unasked question. She was about to transform back when a metal shard arced through the air and slid into her cheek.

The wolf froze, staring at the blood that started to drip from before, before a rumble filled the room. She stood up, tail drifting from side to side as she paced towards the dark mare.

"Of course they ought to be culled," Viridian says, partly as a response to Razor's opinion to the rest of the team, but mostly in response to the last question Docile had asked. "They are an immediate danger in the short team, a major obstacle in the middle distance, and ultimately fatal to any long-term plans of any pony, whether princess or pauper. They are weeds in our garden, or perhaps a more apt analogy would be poisonous snakes. Granted, I myself am very fond of snakes and would rather enjoy keeping one of the constrictors as a pet, but the analogy holds. At any rate, they infest the land and serve no purpose but to give purpose to those that slay them. They are not an inconvenient fragment of nature that nonetheless has a vital place in an established ecosystem and as such, I see no reason why they ought not be destroyed.

"As to whether this can even be done... naturally it can. As New Moon aptly pointed out, they are akin to golems and were thus created by a sapient hand. What can be made can be unmade and if we unmake enough of their playthings, they'll inevitably reveal themselves by dint of replacing what we destroy; at that point, it will be a matter of scientific triangulation. Naturally, anyone with the intellect and ability to make something like the Grimm will be unwholesomely powerful and will like have the requisite insight to anticipate an attempt to strike at them to cut the head from the snake. Ponies will die, whenever the puppeteer is found; to ensure that the dead are not us, we are here, at this place, learning to protect and serve. Speaking of..." Viridian once again rises to her feet and slips out from her row, moving down the steps to stand near New Moon, raising a placating hand to Anja. "Your Grace, miss Moon may have not fully considered the implications of how she disposed of her subject but there's no need to menace her or imply hostile intent. I'm sure that it's a simple enough matter to remove the shard and close your wound, especially for a trained medical pony as I'm certain the Academy would contain in abundance, this being a training ground for hunting dangerous game after all."

Sunny listened as the others talked, not really having much to say. She pulled out a notebook and started taking down notes of what has been said already. “Whatever they are, they can and should be destroyed. It’s just a matter of how and where to do it.” She didn’t really have anything else to add here. End of post.

Wild Card nodded his head as the professor lectured the class about always staying prepared, with thoughts going through his mind as to how he would really keep his weapon close while not having it get in the way. Honestly, there was nowhere really to keep the weapon in its most portable form besides his arm, but that would make using it very difficult. It was a problem to be solved at a later date though, as the next question was asked and the answers just poured in from all students.

Wild did frown slightly as New Moon made her comments, and shook his head, "I mean obviously we've all seen Grimm before. This isn't the start to our Protector training, everyone in this room has had some experience regarding them. And the books made on them often times state what everyone in the room did. The Grimm are shadow beasts, constructs, magically enhanced animals, creations of the moon princess, the guesses go on and on because no one truly knows what they are, from what I can tell. They're obviously alive in some aspect though, because they can be killed." The pegasus said, avoiding saying what some of him was thinking about New Moon's comments - and for the best in his opinion. Wild then turned to the professor and smiled, "And I think they should be slain. The devastation they've caused to the world as a whole, not to mention the lack of any real benefit to their continued existence, warrants that we eradicate them."

Docile Storm chuckled as he listened to the theories escalate into baseless, wild urban legends and religious tracts which he seemed to have expected from the beginning. He seemed to be ready to interrupt them until New Moon spoke up and, seeming interested, he raised an eyebrow and leaned against his desk with his arms folded, watching her back and forth with Shining Light.

"Well, you are indeed quite right, Mr Card, as this class has so helpfully demonstrated the guesses are many and varied as to the nature of the Grimm, but for now that is all they are; guesses. Wild speculation. Theories. What we, as Protectors, must seek is answers but above all else, as you are all quite right to point out, the Grimm must be fought." Docile took his place behind his desk. "I hope you are all copying down notes, by the way." He added with a chuckle, indicating to Sunshine with an approving look.

"Still, it is good to see that some of you are more level headed than others... which brings me to the reason why we have called this lecture." Docile clicked the projector again, displaying a video feed; the quality was poor but they could tell the village street that it was overlooking had been ransacked.

"This, is the village of Tangle Root. As of 24 hours ago, it was a small, humble little farming community. As of 12 hours ago, it's ground zero for a Grimm attack." Docile said, looking serious for the first time. "We need anybody who feels they are ready for instant action to suit up and head there immediately; exterminate any stragglers, and escort survivors to the nearest settlement."

Razor Back immediately stuck her hand up. "Count us in." The thestral said, volunteering her whole team without consulting them, eager to see some action.

"Uh- wait what?!" Fantasy objected, turning to face Razor so quickly her neck cricked.

"Excuse me?" Sunset's reaction was similar to Fantasy's, but slower and thus less painful. She also wore a scowl, as opposed to Fantasy's panicked 'Are you kidding me?!' look.

"I'll go, as well." Nox volunteered without hesitation. Off in the corner, Shining Light nervously stuttered and mumbled something about teams and also going.

The sirens didn't volunteer. They whispered energetically and harshly with one another, talking about observing the volunteers but not knowing how to fight and appearing suspicious if not just assholish for not helping the efforts, but in the end they decided not to volunteer.

Sunny sat up as she finished her notes, listening intently as Docile explained the reason for their little impromptu meeting. “A call to action, eh? From us? Seems suspicious, but it’s not my job to question.” She put the notebook away and stood up. “Sounds like fun. I’m in.”

Wild Card felt a little happier as he was praised a little by the professor, then he frowned as Docile explained the reasoning for the abrupt lecture. Wild didn't like what he saw, knowing what even small Grimm attacks could do, and even though it wasn't a cloud street the image was pretty familiar in terms of damage... maybe less fire perhaps. It scared him a little, but he still wanted to go help as he felt it would be a brilliant opportunity to see some action. But he wasn't exactly the best Grimm fighter, and that worried him.

Wild turned to his team as they started whispering about not knowing how to fight, and this actually made him feel slightly better for a few reasons. The main of which was that he wasn't alone in not being doubtful of his own abilities. "Hey, girls. I've got an idea. I'm not too certain of my own Grimm slaying effectiveness, but we can focus more on evacuation. Sure, we won't see as much action, but we're still helping and I think most of the other students just want to kill Grimm instead, leaving the evacuation part of it a bit lacking in effort. So why don't we take that role with this." Wild whispered to the merponies with a genuine smile on his face, seemingly happy that he thought of that idea.

"I believe that we've just been volunteered to fight, Boss," Viridian says with a tiny smile at how aghast Fantasy and Sunset look. "Better yet, we've been volunteered to fight on a milk run. It won't be a terribly complicated mission, we'll have ample cover and obstacles to break line of sight, we can get a high vantage point on targets giving us a reconnaissance advantage, and I'm sure there's a central and more highly-elevated point to allow me and my weapon to give fighters like Razor here fire support. It presents a fairly easy battle for you to plan and command, and I'm sure we'll be getting help from other teams who can take care of those fleeing and needing protection. I see no reason not to grab our weapons, see the elephant, and notch our grips."
She glances over the two mares. "So, what do the two of you do, as far as semblance things? Might help the planning if we've all got the same details about each other." She taps her chest. "As I demonstrated with the dummy, I have a lot of knives and can make them fly and dance as needed."

Anja's head was spinning from the amount of sensory information that was feeding into her. Fear, excitement, and a dozen other emotions lingered on the air. Not to mention Docile had asked a question, which she had instinctively nodded to. Further, the pretty green one had stepped in front of the one who had wounded her. She did not want to hurt the green one, she wanted to hurt the one who had hurt her, and trapped her in her wolf forme.

She glanced at her cub, who nodded, before vanishing into the crowd to return to her room, unnoticed. Content, she sniffed the air again, before moving with an incredible speed, knocking over New Moon and sitting on her chest, a cheerful grin now on her lips. She may not have been able to tear her throat out, per the green one's insistence, but she would assert her dominance nonetheless.

Docile Storm nodded and took off his suit jacket; beneath it he wore a waistcoat of the same dark, khaki green as his coat which had a holster one both sides, one sheathing a vicious looking machete and the other the pitch black revolver he had somehow produced from up his sleeve earlier.

"Excellent. Gather your weapons and any other supplies you need; we leave as soon as you are able. Team leaders, please nominate one of your number to take care of the wounded, anyone with medical training or even just a delicate touch would be vitally important." Docile assured them, loading his revolver with eight bullets, each a different colour, before holstering it again and proceeding to the back of the room.

"Looks like we're in the thick of it. Suits me just fine." Razor had a slightly worrying grin on her face that was bearing most of her pointy teeth. "So, who wants to play nurse?" She asked to her group; she felt it rather went without saying that she would not be doing so.

Sunset and Fantasy shared a look. Well, a glance. Sunset's expression showed none of Fantasy's anxiety, and anxiety seemed to be all Fantasy was feeling in contrast to Sunset's vexation.

"Who said I would even be going?" Sunset technically asked the whole team, but she was facing Razor as she said this. "You're not the leader, and I doubt our actual leader has the spine to give a single order. So I won't be forced into any clean-up missions by a subordinate."

Fantasy, hunched over as if she wanted to curl into a fetal position, frowned. "You're a subordinate, too, you know."

Sunset scowled, but didn't look at Fantasy.

"Also-... uh... you!" Fantasy pointed at Viridian. "You're the team strategist."

---

"I don't suppose you know anything about healing?" Adagio asked Wild. Aria and Sonata looked at him, one doubtfully and the other expectantly.

---

Nox knew a little bit about minor healing, and a few major healing spells, but she hoped someone in her team knew more. Not like she could ask, though: they were all over the room, she'd have to shout to them, or walk around the other students to get to them each and try to create a cohesive plan through playing Owl (a very inferior method of communication between party members, at the very least because it was horribly inefficient and ran the risk of distortion that letters were generally better at avoiding). Not to mention one of them was currently a non-verbal giant wolf and seemed rather miffed at her at the moment. She decided to ask them at a more convenient-

"AHH- UHK!" Nox was knocked to the ground, the air squeezed out of her lungs and breasts painfully squished by a sudden giantess wolf-pony, who grinned down at her in an almost mocking way. Nox frowned. Her horn lit, and she easily lifted Anja off herself, slowly rotating her upside down mid-air (out of reach from any furniture or pony whose assistance she could use to right herself) while she stood up and dusted herself off.

Wild looked at the rest of his team as Docile mentioned assigning one of them as the designated medic for the task, thinking to himself about their potential for the role. He was, however, greeted back by Adagio asking him directly about the healing, which just cemented his assumptions that the merponies weren't going to either want or be able to play medic. The pegasus put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment, before looking back at his team and shrugging.

"Well I can't do healing magic, I'm not a doctor and now that I'm thinking about it, I don't have any of my stuff besides my weapons and these clothes, so no equipment to help with healing. I think we're just not going to be able to deal with it..." Wild admitted, frowning and sounding a little sad at the realisation of how his belongings were probably still at his parents' house in Cloudshire. His ears then perked up as he clicked his fingers with a grin, "Wait, the professor did say a gentle touch would help too, that could be any of us, plus we're not planning on doing much fighting, so why don't we all do it?"

Wild Card then stood up, and turned to face Docile, raising a hand as he did so. "Um, professor, where are we to meet up when we're suited up? And would you mind if my team focuses entirely on the evacuation of the survivors?" Wild asked politely.

Viridian nods. "OK, I'll strategize." She pauses a moment. "OK, my first brilliant strategy is that this one," she points to Razor, "will hit this one," she points to Sunset, "until obedience is learned. After that, this one," she points to Fantasy "will tell this one" she points to Sunset again "what to do next, and she'll do it. If not, the beatings will continue until obedience." As she says this, Viridian's expression does not budge an inch and she seems perfectly serious. "That concern out of the way, I propose that Fine Fantasy stick with me on overwatch where she can survey the entire field and give instructions as required, inasmuch as she's the boss. I will cover the two of you," she gestures to Razor and Sunset, "using my weapon in long rifle mode. I strongly suspect that Razor excels in beating things into the bedrock, and Sunset Shimmer's talent for fire meets and perhaps even exceeds her outsize ego, sense of entitlement, superiority complex, and delusion of grandeur. As such, we will be acting as the fireteam while others act in a support capacity and to both evacuate and heal." She looks to Fantasy. "Those are my strategic and tactical thoughts. But you're team leader so they'll naturally have to be OK with you."

Anja had not been expecting the magic. She was floating, upside down as the young mare she had sat on dusted herself off. How dare she use magic on her? Now she had wished she had ignored the green one's instruction, and had tried to tear out the false one's throat. Consoling herself in the fact alicorns probably tasted terrible, the wolfied elf queen waggled her limbs gently as she floated, if for no other reason than to entertain herself. Her tongue lolled out, and she waggled an eyebrow at the green one, hoping to attract her attention to get her out of this mess.

"If you do not have a first aid specialist or even novice Mr Card then you can aid me in holding the perimeter of the village; I doubt we will be lucky enough for the creatures of Grimm to have unanimously decided to move on, and it would not do well for them to come swarming in while we are attempting a search and rescue." Docile assured Wild Card, spinning the chamber of his revolver before holstering it again. "To landing pad 2 in twenty minutes, prompt." He ordered them before leaving the room.

Once they took off half an hour later (Razor Back and Sonata Dusk both seemed to be making a first impression of running late) Docile Storm paced up and down on the deck of the airship, leaving them  to prepare however they chose for the duration of the half-hour trip.

The village of Tangled Root was a truly sad sight; from above they could tell the walled in farming village, built on a slant into the side of a mountain, would've been a truly pleasant and charming little place especially on a nice sunny day. Now however the walls were ravaged and dark, ominous storm clouds hung in the air above them; the incomparable feeling of dread that preceded entering the aftermath of a battle was hanging thick in the air as the ship touched down.

"Right...." Docile said quietly as he stepped down the loading ramp first, glancing around and drawing his weapon. "Mr Card, if you and your team could set up positions around the perimeter." He said, gesturing to the large stone wall which surrounded the village, which now had several long holes torn through it. "If anyone tries to approach you hold them up, if any Grimm approach you eliminate it. Mr Card, my combat experience is, admittedly, limited, so I shall leave it to you to give commands."

He turned next to Fine Fantasy's team. "Ms Fantasy, you and your team shall be in charge of securing the inner village; the perimeter defenses should've gone to auxilliary power and yet they remain down, please one of you find the generator and see if you can get them back up and running, the rest of you scout for survivors."

Finally he turned to New Moon. "Ms Moon, the generator should be on the West side of the village, so would you and your team please scout for survivors in the East while the majority of Ms Fantasy's team scout in the West? Any survivors we find should be escorted to the bunker by the town hall in the Northern wall." He said, before turning to Sunshine. "Ms Sunshine, I happen to be most impressed by your semblance; if I may be so bold, a source of illumination would be ideal if you can."


Razor Back rolled her shoulders; her combat gear was on dissimilar from biker leathers but the jacket and jeans both showed signs of padding and reinforcement, her twin long swords strapped to her back in an X-shape. "Welp, I don't know anything about tech, so count me out of the generator." She turned to Viridian. "What about you, you seem a lot sharper than the rest of us." She said, no hint of snark in her voice.

“Please work on your punctuality.” Fantasy gently requested of Razor.

Aria thwacked Sonata in the head. Sonata snarled, Aria snapped back, and Adagio thwacked them both.

---

Sunset, Fantasy, Nox, Shining, and the sirens had taken the half-hour to get dressed and get their weapons.

Sunset was wearing her usual attire (a studded faux-leather jacket) with the addition of a pair of iron horseshoes. She carried a basic scimitar.

Fantasy’s outfit was much more complex: a silky-looking, deep blue corset, decorated with little diamonds and subtle swirls in a way that strongly resembled the night sky, even including constellations. Ornate gold lined the top and bottom: the top held in place what appeared to be a heart-shaped ruby, and the bottom seemed just to be there for symmetry. The thing was held up by transparent plastic straps, since Fantasy’s own body was too lacking for her to hold it up on her own. Below that was a pair of purple spandex shorts that Fantasy had thrown on in a hurry; kinda looked like she was still trying to find something that went with the corset. She had a stun baton.

Nox’s battle outfit… well, frankly it looked cobbled together out of pieces of armor that she found randomly. The pieces were dirty and damaged, many didn’t go together, many of them didn't even properly fit her, and there were at least three different metals in the whole ensemble. Pyra awkwardly perched on one of the shoulder pieces, sticking out like a majestic sore thumb on the mess. Nox was currently carrying a sword.

Shining’s armor was far more impressive: shiny, undamaged, and uniform. Her sword, though: the handle was immaculate and ornate, gem-studded and gold in color, but the blade was rough and uneven.

The sirens didn’t have any armor. Adagio held a dust-infused whip. Aria carried dual pistol-tonfas, with average bullets. Sonata had a spear.

---

“Should we fly?” Adagio asked Wild upon leaving the ship, hovering lazily beside him. “It seems more effective to me if we patrol from the air.”

“Oooh, cool~! This place is all desolate and creepy and stuff!”

“She’s a freaking dolphin, I swear to Mareana…” Aria grumbled, and thwacked Sonata again as she passed her. “So what’s the plan?” she asked near Wild and Adagio, not bothering to look at either of them and instead boredly staring at the ruins.

---

“I don’t know anything about generators, either.” Fantasy said, “So I’ll also be scouting. Sunset?”

Once again, Sunset had that smug smirk on her face that made Fantasy want to shut her up before she started speaking. “I can fix the generator in no time, provided it hasn’t been chewed to scrap by a Grimm.”

---

“Alright,” Nox faced her group. “Pretty clear-cut: scout for survivors. I don’t really think I need to, or can, add to it. If somepony has a concern…?”

Anja hated aircraft, especially in her wolf form. It was loud, and windy, and her ears pressed against her skull. She whimpered, curled up in the corner and shaking.

When it landed, she bounded off of the aircraft as fast as she could, sniffing the ground eagerly. She growled, staring at the rest of her group, before gesturing vaguely in the direction of the town, already bounding towards it eagerly.

Wild was already wearing his combat armour, so all he needed to do was grab his weaponry from his room and then wait for the rest of his team to get ready. He politely stood outside their room while he waited and walked with them (or at least Adagio and Aria as they were on time) to the landing pad.

In the half-hour trip to Tangled Root, Wild just idly watched the intricate lines of slowly changing colours along the ornately designed black long-sword he carried, every now and then focusing more on them and turning the lines completely one colour. He did this for a few times, before smiling and checking on the weapon he carried in his other hand, the white bladed tonfa, folding it in half and back again a few times and checking on the ammunition loaded. The pegasus felt like he was prepared.

Except when they arrived, he didn't feel prepared at all. The town looked ravaged, giving Wild some - not-too-great - memories and making him hesitate when stepping out of the airship. He turned to his team behind him and nodded, "Uh... yeah, flying sounds good. Though position yourself near the holes in the wall, and don't fly too high. We need to be able to react quickly to anything on the ground, right. As the professor said, hold up anyone who comes near, kill any Grimm that come close. We've got the professor with us so that helps a lot too." Wild said, looking at the wall to the town and silently hoping that nothing too dangerous came close. The pegasus then turned to Docile, "Um, sir, when you said for me to be the one giving the commands, that doesn't include to you, does it? It seems odd but I just thought to ask because you're with us on perimeter defense and all... or rather we're with you." Wild asked, feeling like the question had an obvious answer that he didn't see at first, and as such he felt rather embarrassed asking.

When the class breaks, Viridian follows the students returning to their quarters, pausing a moment to pet Anja and slip her a piece of strangely soft and succulent steak jerky before she continues on to where she has her weapon and gear stored. When she emerges to board the aircraft, she's wearing the same long, heavy, coat she's worn throughout the day. Based on the way it moves around her body, and the subtle stitching patterns throughout the structure, it has some kind of rigid armoring sewn in between layers of heavy leather. In addition to this normal ensemble, she's added what appears to be a large rectangular parcel securely tied down against her mid-back and covering the area from shoulder to shoulder and hip to neck. The corners of the object are visibly reinforced with metal and the entire thing has been latched shut with inch-thick iron bars run through thick loops of metal on both the top and the bottom, each bar then secured with cotter pins attached to integrated combination locks. The object doesn't appear to weigh her down, possibly because of the system of straps that evenly distribute the weight over her entire torso, and she's even moved the magnetic attachment sheath so that her weapon can attach to the box instead of her back. When they get into the aircraft, Viridian positions herself close to Anja so she can pat the clearly uncomfortable wolf throughout the journey.

"I, unfortunately, am not an engineer," she says to Razor. "I might be able to reason out how to make the generator work again by pulling it apart and tracing the malfunction, but I wouldn't want to deprive Miss Shimmer of her fun." She looks over to Sunset as the mare brags about her abilities. "After all, it's so rare to be able to see someone's head get larger in real time. It's quite the feat." She chuckles and returns her attention to petting the wolf until they land. She then takes the naginata off her back and steps calmly out of the transport. "Sunset, if you're as good as you say you are, i'll take position to kill any Grimm that charge you while you work on that generator." She looks to Fantasy. "With the permission of the boss, of course, and I'll naturally be positioned wherever she needs me."

When Sunshine joined the others at the landing pad, she was wearing a slightly modified maid outfit from her original, having added a corset and some additional lace. One unimportant background character asked why she was wearing that, to which her answer was, “I dunno. Felt right.” She was also holding a shotgun that was painted red. A flaming heart was on the side. Again, when asked about it, she answered, “I dunno, wasn’t my idea.”

Upon arrival, she didn’t bother correcting the professor, and simply nodded, forming a ball of light above her head. “If you have a glass jar, I used to store light in them for use as makeshift lanterns. If not, nothing I can do for anyone but my own team.” She turned to the rest of her team, being led by the pony she assumed had a moon on her butt, if her name was anything to go by. Probably something to look into later. “No concerns here. Let’s get going.”